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There is a well know and universal benchmark of success - money.

Some entrepreneur believe that investing money is the cure for low earnings and pump high spending plans into marketing agencies or freelancers. Not a great deal of business owners understand how to assess marketing projects and that breaks my heart.

Generating new, qualified leads is the lifeblood of any business. Your ability to analyze each lead's cost, product, or sales funnel with your ROI is a critical factor in your success as a business owner.  

Your sales staff carry a heavy load. Every day they prospect to find leads, follow up on leads, score leads, send out emails, log calls, and schedule appointments. They put together sales quotes and proposals, onboard customers, record conversations and notes on prospects, and request approvals – all while staying on top of products, services, and pricing. Most of their tasks don't make them or your business any money. Non-revenue producing activities make the most sense to automate. Automating frees up your sales staff to focus their efforts on doing the things that bring in the most income.

Effective marketing and successful gardening work the same way.

A cactus and a fern are both plants, but if you plant your cactus in the shade and water it as much as you water your fern, it will die. Similarly, if you plant your fern in scorching full sun and water it once a month, you've got yourself a dead fern.

Wouldn't it be great if you could make a sale after just one well-done sales presentation?  

Typically, your salesperson puts all their energy into doing a great job of the initial sales presentation and then follows up with one phone call or email. That's it. The prospect doesn't buy, and your salesperson believes they are not interested in your product or service and gives up on them. That's how most businesses lose money.

Would you be surprised if I told you direct mail gives you a higher return on your investment (ROI) than digital ads? You might be thinking – are you kidding?! That's as outdated and old school as playing music on a cassette player or using an overhead projector for a business presentation!

When you started your business, a simple spreadsheet was enough to keep track of your customer information. Then you brought more staff on board. Your receptionist might have had an excellent memory and liked to store some data in her head, other information in her email files, and keep a few paper files. Your sales representative may have kept a spreadsheet. Maybe your accountant kept a stack of invoices in a file folder.

Advertising is evolving so fast! Marketing moved from traditional mediums to almost exclusively online interactions. Soon, press and print will fade into obscurity. Okay, I'm just joking. As a person who uses online advertising daily alongside thousands of marketing professionals all over the world, 

Nowadays it is important to have a strong online presence to be able to sell your products and services. Now the question you probably have is  “How do I get noticed?” in all the noise and clutter?

Let’s face it, we are completely bombarded with marketing every day. Everywhere we go, anytime we watch TV, every time we look something up online – there are ads. So, as an advertiser or marketer, it can be very challenging to stand out from the crowd and make people look at your ad. Welcome to the world of shock advertising!